Hmm, maybe, except he's Chinese instead of Japanese. And in the Vanguard novels, the authors have definitely written Nogura as though he were being played by the late Mako -- particularly in Storming Heaven, where there are repeated, colorful references to his gravelly voice.

I knew about Mako for Nogura, but I was trying to go with someone who's still alive. I know this is fantasy casting, so we don't have to stick with living people, but I was trying to treat this like I was actually casting this as a TV show that would be possible to make now.
And there have been plenty of situations where people of one nationality were played a character who was another.

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